4/25
I read this NBA Article and it was talking bout how Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose have to wear in boot because he sprained his ankle in one of the playoff games. The coach said its not a bad sprain its just a lil swole. I feel like if he not able to play they will lose again
4/26
I read another NBA Article but this time it was talking bout the NEW YORK KNICKS the article was talking bout how the knicks got swept by the celtics in the playoffs.The celtics is a good old veteran team and the knicks was unprepared for that kind of matchup. They accquired superstar forward carmelo anthony in a trade before the trade deadline to help there star already Amare Stoudmire. His teammate chauncey billups came long to to help but he was faced wit a knee injury to make him sit out 3 games in the playoffs but they or hoping to do better next season says the superstars.
4/26
In the next chapter of the NBA Article they were talkin bout how the Lakers Forward Derrick Character got arrested because of pubic drunkness and shoving a waiter. He was booked in jail sunday early sunday morning and got bonded out for 1000 dollars later on that morning he also tried to resist arrest. He havent played an any games of the playoff series against New Orleans and he is not expected to play the series is tied 2-2 and they play 2nite. The organization feels like he embarrased the organization but thats not the reason he not playing dough.
4/26
I was reading this book holes and in chapter 1 it was talkin about stanley yelnats and how is great grandfather was a pig stealer and had a curse on there family. They always had bad luck when they tried to do something. Stanley had got accused for stealing some shoes and he had to go to court and had a choice to go to jail or camp green lake. He chose camp green lake and when he got there he realized that it wasnt a camp he expected.
4/26
Another chapter i read of the book holes was talkin bout this lady name kissing kate barlow. At first she was a nice caring lady that was a teacher. It was this man that fixed on things and brought her peaches. She fell in love wit him and the whole town got jealous because he was black. So one day they were kissing and someone white guy seen them and he went and told everyone and they set the school on fire and killed her boyfriend. So she start killing everyone and town and robbing banks. So one day she decided to give up and she let a yellow spotted lizard bit her and hid the treasure where no one would find it.
4/26
As i read alone in the book when stanley went to camp he met some camp mates and the people that run the camp. The Warrant was a lady and there was this dude named Mr. Sir and this other dude name peter. They told stanley he would have to dig hole to build his character; but they were lookin for the hidden treasure that kate barlow had buried. Stanley met this guy named zero that was always quiet and dug his holes faster than anyone else.
4/26
It's been about one full week since Edge (also known as Adam Copeland) dropped the bombshell, announcing that he's retiring from professional wrestling. I wanted to watch Raw and SmackDown and let each one sink in a little bit before offering my thoughts on his career, retirement and legacy.
Edge, just 37 years old, officially wrestled his last match on April 3—WrestleMania 27—as World Heavyweight Champion.
4/26 Pakistan over new skirt rules KARACHI: The vice-president of the Asian Badminton Confederation Syed Naqi Mohsin has hit out at the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) regulation to make skirts mandatory for female players in international tournaments, saying that it is unacceptable to Muslim women.
4/27 US SHOULD BE A FRIEND OF RUSSIA
AS the Obama administration seeks a fresh start in our strained relationship with Russia, the case for cooperation with Moscow on everything from nuclear terrorism to global finance is clear and compelling. So, too, is the case for protecting the freedom and sovereignty of the fledgling democracies on Russia’s borders. We must do both. Part of the way we can continue to support allies such as Georgia even as we do more to pursue vital national interests alongside Russia is by focusing on areas that can deliver real benefits to one side without hurting ties to the other.
4/28 TIGERS GOIN INTO EXTINCT
Next year, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Tiger but conservationists say the omens are inauspicious for an animal on the brink of extinction. If anything, the tiger’s year in the Chinese zodiac may hasten its demise, conservationists fear, with festive demand for its skin and body parts encouraging poachers to hunt the few animals that still remain in the wild. “The Year of the Tiger will put more pressure on wild tigers,” Michael Baltzer, head of the WWF Tiger Initiative, told AFP during a tiger conservation conference held in Kathmandu which wound up on Friday.
4/28 MOSCOW PLANS NAVEL BASE IN GEORGIA
MOSCOW, Jan 26: Russia will start building a naval base this year in Georgia’s Black Sea separatist region of Abkhazia, Russian media reported on Monday, a step Tbilisi said would violate its sovereignty. Russia angered the United States and Europe after its war with Georgia last year by recognising Abkhazia, and the second separatist region of South Ossetia, as independent states and establishing a permanent military presence in both regions. A naval base in Abkhazia is likely to add to western concerns that Moscow is flexing its military muscles, including by moving its armed forces back into areas they vacated after the collapse of Soviet rule.
4/28 WAR BY KIDNAP RAGES IN CAUCASUS When Venera Tebilova kissed her son Alan goodbye on a warm evening last October, she expected to see him home the next day. Barely 16, Alan set off with two friends to attend a religious festival in a nearby village in their native South Ossetia. More than three months later, Alan and his friends are still missing. For weeks his frantic mother searched for him in vain. Finally, a farmer in a nearby village revealed that he had seen a group of armed men, dressed in camouflage, force the three friends at gunpoint into a car that drove them across the border into neighbouring Georgia. Alan’s case is not unique. Nearly five months since Georgia launched an attack on the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, and Russia retaliated by invading Georgia in a five-day war, tensions on both sides are still running high.
4/28 SHOTS FIRED AT POLISH, GEORGIAN PRESIDENTS Gunfire broke out on Sunday on the South Ossetian de facto border after a convoy carrying the Georgian and Polish presidents approached, forcing them to turn back, officials said. A spokeswoman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian troops manning a checkpoint on the boundary since a fiveday war in August opened fire when the convoy approached. The spokeswoman was not present at the scene, just south of the town of Akhalgori. A witness travelling with Saakashvili told Reuters that uniformed men who appeared to be South Ossetians fired shots into the air when officials began getting out of their cars.
4/28 Needed: A food security lawThe reconstitution of the National Advisory Council under Sonia Gandhi, announced by India’s United Progressive Alliance government, is good news. The original NAC died prematurely because Gandhi quit it in the wake of the office-of-profit controversy. Members of parliament cannot ordinarily hold a remunerative office.
The law has now been amended to free the NAC of this constraint. The new NAC must advise the UPA on bringing about inclusive growth. The UPA had promised this before the 2004 elections and reiterated it in 2009. 4/28 Roach-inspired robots can turn on a dimeA bio-engineering marvel like the cockroach is inspiring researchers to build robots capable of sprinting over rough terrain. “Humans can run, but our capabilities are nothing compared to what insects and some other animals can do,” said John Schmitt, professor at the Oregon State University (OSU) School of Mechanical Engineering, who led the project. “Cockroaches are incredible. They can run fast, turn on a dime, move easily over rough terrain, and react to perturbations faster than a nerve impulse can travel,” Schmitt said. If successful, Schmitt said, running robots could serve valuable roles in difficult jobs, such as military operations, law enforcement or space exploration. Within certain limitations, Schmitt said, cockroaches don’t even have to think about running — they just do it, with muscle action that is instinctive. 4/28 Madagascar's natural resource under siege A political crisis in this African island nation has triggered a pillage of its mythical wildlife and forests, and conservation groups fear that the peril will worsen as donors suspend funding to punish coup leaders running the country. Conservationists say the problem is particularly distressing in Madagascar because it is a land like no other. After it broke off mainland Africa 160 million years ago, Indian Ocean isolation created a biological laboratory that spawned thousands of plants and animals – massive moths, brawny baobabs, a hundred species of furry lemurs – that exist nowhere else. Security in Madagascar has broken down since a coup in March, and traffickers have smuggled out record numbers of Ploughshare tortoises, one of the world’s rarest, for sale to Asian and European collectors, environmentalists said. 4/28 Chinese threat to Gir LionsThe International Union of Conservation of Nature has, on its red list, the Asiatic lion as an endangered species. The main threat to the Gir lion, it says, is from poachers who sell its bone as tiger bone which is used in Chinese remedies. CID investigation of poaching of the eight lions in Saurashtra in 2007 revealed that lions were killed for selling bones and now an environment-related website has said that lions were next target as the number of tigers was falling. 4/28 Swine Flu claims 11 children in USAs the swine flu outbreak strikes the US early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple of weeks.
Delays in producing the vaccine mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus states had been expecting. The new count from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the US may have to be postponed.
It also delays efforts to blunt increasing infections. Overall, what CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about six per cent of all doctor visits are for flulike illness levels not normally seen until much later in the fall.
4/28 YOU MAY NEVER SEE THESE AGAIN Last month’s rare sighting of the bearded vulture was a cause for celebration but the outlook may not be so bright for other endangered species. Sparrows and mynahs are becoming rare in our cities and the list could go on. Many Indians may not even know what they are at risk of losing. Wildlife activist Belinda Wright says, “Any loss of biodiversity is sad, but it’s not always obvious. Sometimes, we don’t even know what we have lost.” Or are at risk of losing. Here’s a sample: Tibetan Gazelle | 200 This antelope species, found in Ladakh and Sikkim and endemic to the Tibetan plateau, has seen sharply falling numbers for years. Once found in an area 20,000 sq km large, it now survives in a small 100-sq-km patch. Yash Veer Bhatnagar, a senior scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in Mysore, says the Tibetan Gazelle is so seriously endangered in Ladakh, it could take as little as one severe winter to render it extinct.
4/28 SHOOTING FOR FUN? Despite the fact that the Chinkara Deer is considered an endangered specie, both locally and internationally, its hunting by some local influentials continues. At least 20 of these deer were hunted recently at three different places along the Sanghar district desert zone, in close proximity to the India—Pakistan border.
Chinkara has been mentioned in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while the Sindh Wildlife Department also realises that the animal is threatened locally. “It is declared a protected animal according to the Sindh Wildlife Act and its hunting and trapping is banned,” an official of the wildlife department told The News on condition of anonymity.
4/28 MISSING LINK? DINO WITH FOUR WINGS FOUND Chinese researchers have unearthed the fossil of a birdlike dinosaur with four wings in northeastern China, which they suggest is a missing link in dinosaurs’ evolution into birds. The team found the well-preserved fossil of the “Anchiornis huxleyi,” which roamed the earth some 160 million years ago, in China’s northeastern Liaoning province. About the size of a chicken, the fossil has a total body length of less than 50cm and a skull 6cm long, lead researcher Xing Xu at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing said. “This finding suggests that birds are likely to be descended from a kind of small-sized four-winged dinosaur about 160 million years ago,” Xu said. “Long feathers cover the arms and tail, but also the feet, suggesting that a four-winged stage may have existed in the transition to birds.” The Chinese researchers believe the fossil is the oldest bird-like dinosaur reported so far, and older than Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird. REUTERS
4/28 HORSES AND DOGS DON FANCY DRESS FOR CONTEST On Dussehra day, while most of Mumbai garlanded its cars and bikes, the Amateur Riders’ Club at Mahalakshmi conducted an ashwa puja to worship the most ancient mode of transport, the horse. Festooned with fresh marigolds, with dabs of bright vermilion on their foreheads, the horses strutted around the racecourse paddock. They later returned in fancy wear for a contest. Vying for top prize were human-horse pairs, dressed to match. While some participants adopted a festive theme, dressing themselves and their horses in garba outfits, others drew their inspiration from Bollywood themes. Donning a blonde wig and a hip-hugging blue skirt, Pranay Mehta, a student of the Aditya Birla World Academy, came as Mango Dolly, the voluptuous female protagonist from the movie Quick Gun Murugan. His partner Lucrative, a white horse, was dressed as the movie’s protagonist, with Quick Gun’s trademark wide-brimmed hat and flamboyant outfit. “Since the horse was the man, I had to be the woman to make the couple work,’’ says Pranay, blowing kisses for the cameras.
4/28 GUJARAT COWS TAKE ON H1N1, HIV It will now be cow versus swine. As the world grapples with H1N1, cows in Anand, the country’s milk capital, will provide the all-important ingredient to tackle the menace. After giving the country utterly, butterly, delicious milk products for almost five decades, Amul is ready to take on deadly viruses as it joins hands with a Mumbai-based company to collect ‘first milk’ —which provides immunity to the newborn calf—to come out with an oral spray that increases the human’s immune system against viruses, including HIV and H1N1. The milk is being collected from Amul’s milk co-operatives and the product, Receptor, will be marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which owns the Amul brand. “The first milk from the mother’s breast, called colostrum, helps the offspring build its immune system. We first removed fat by nano filteration from the colostrum collected from cows. The isolated particles, called nano-peptides, were named ‘Radha-108’.
4/28 AL-QAEDA HAVE SHRINKING IN PAKISTAN President Barack Obama, adhering to his plan to begin withdrawal of some American troops from Afghanistan this year, said on Tuesday night that al-Qaeda havens along the Pak-Afghan border were shrinking and fewer Afghans lived under the Taliban control, after year-long anti-militant operations. The US leader, now into third year of his presidency — devoted mainly to recovery from economic recession at home in the midst of rising international competition and anti-terror cooperation efforts around the world — sounded an upbeat message for Americans in a prime-time annual State of the Union address. The war in Afghanistan received the most attention as Obama touched on some key foreign policy challenges, which did not include the contentious and stalled Middle East peace process. “In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan Security Forces. Our purpose is clear — by preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al-Qaeda the safe-haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11,” Obama said.
4/28 OBAMA PASSAGE TO INDIANS
Barack Obama did not visit India and skipped Pakistan because he loves the Indians more or he had been on a mission to spread sweetness and light in South Asia. It was a business trip. And as Calvin Coolidge argued, the chief business of the American people is business. Twenty business deals worth $14 billion that could create, as Obama emphasised for the benefit of audiences back home, nearly 54,000 jobs for the Americans. Not a small feat at a time when unemployment in the US is hovering around 10 per cent. Obama was here to hard sell the US economic agenda pushing Indian firms and businesses that have been the chief beneficiaries of the outsourcing revolution, to invest back in the world's largest economy teetering on the brink for the past many years. Global economic tide has indeed begun to turn. One never knew one would witness this amazing spectacle of the long colonised and historically exploited nations turning around to take the upper hand. Why, even 10 years back imagining a scenario where India would be in a position to help the US and other Western nations by investing back in their economies, infrastructure and jobs was impossible.
4/28 OBAMA FACES REALITY TEST ON N-POSTURE President Barack Obama’s promise of a nuclear free world faces a crucial reality test next month when he decides how far to go in reducing the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy. The administration’s so called nuclear posture review is scheduled to be delivered to Congress in early March, two months behind schedule amid an internal debate over such fundamental questions as what purpose nuclear weapons really serve. The review, the first of its kind since 2002, has been conducted in secrecy and the outcome remains uncertain, but its point of departure was Obama’s April 5 speech in Prague promising to seek a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same, Obama pledged. But arms control advocates say they have been cautioned not to expect the groundbreaking document that many had hoped for.
4/28 OBAMA'S ME ADVENTURE
BARACK Obama had worse failures to address in his State of the Union message on Wednesday, but a few days before he owned up to the most foolish miscalculation that his administration had made in its first year in power. In an interview with Joe Klein of Time magazine, he confessed that he had not understood the obstacles to an Israeli Palestinian peace settlement. The Middle East peace process has not moved forward.For all our efforts at early engagement, it is not where I want it to be,” Obama said. “If we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.” But why didn’t he anticipate them? Is there really nobody in Washington who could have told Obama the truth about the Middle East?
4/28 OBAMA BUDGET PROJECTIONS MAY BE TO ROSY
US President Barack Obama’s budget plans unveiled on Monday assume a strong economic rebound despite high unemployment and trimming a record deficit to below one trillion dollars in two years. Some see the White House’s federal budget forecasts as too rosy, especially the plan to slash the federal deficit to 706 billion dollars in four years, or 3.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), from the record 1.56 trillion dollars or 10.6 per cent of GDP projected in the 2010 fiscal year. “If your staff economist tells you that is realistic, fire him,” said Peter Morici, a business professor with the University of Maryland. “Rosie Scenario wrote this budget,” he said, tongue in cheek. According to forecasts made under the 3.834 trillion dollar budget for the fiscal year ending September 30, the world’s largest economy should expand 2.7 per cent this year followed by 3.8 per cent in 2011 and more than four per cent in 2012 and 2013. The budget estimated the economy contracted by 2.5 per cent in the 2009 calendar year despite growth in the last two quarters.
4/28 BOOK ON IRAN SOJOURN SHEDS LIGHT ON
With a book written by one of Osama bin Laden’s sons, and with news of a daughter sheltering in the Saudi Embassy in Iran, some of the blanks are being filled in. The book is about Osam’s large family, including lurid details of his parenting style.
Two weeks ago, the son, Omar bin Laden, revealed that many of the children who had been with their father in Afghanistan escaped to Iran following the 2001 US-led invasion, and were still together in a walled compound under Iranian guard.
Confirmation came with the news that a daughter, Eman bin Laden, had taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi officials are negotiating with the Iranians to allow Eman to return to Saudi Arabia, where she was born, and on Tuesday Omar bin Laden told The Associated Press that he, as well as his wife and mother, had applied for visas to go to Tehran and help speed Eman’s case.
4/29 NBA
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says officials missed two crucial calls during Dallas' 18-point meltdown during the fourth quarter of a Game 4 loss to Portland.
Early entry candidates for 2011 NBA Draft
The National Basketball Association announced today that 89 players, including 69 players from U.S. colleges and 20 international players, have filed as early entry candidates for the 2011 NBA Draft.
Players wishing to enter the 2011 NBA Draft were required to submit a letter to the NBA to be received no later than Sunday, April 24.
4/29 The tribal areas of Pakistan will be the litmus test for what the prime minister said during his recent visit to Afghanistan. Although the winds of change have been blowing in Afghanistan for the last 40 years, there has been no change in the adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan. Let us be optimistic, even at the cost of deceiving ourselves - let’s believe that this time, the government is serious about bringing change in its policy towards Afghanistan which will have a direct bearing on Fata.
4/29 This visit being the second in four months is in itself an indicator of the importance that the government attaches to its relations with Afghanistan. Inclusion of the army chief and DG ISI in the prime minister’s delegation has demonstrated the fact that the civil and military establishment are now on the same page in terms of dealing with the situation in Afghanistan.
4/29 The visit could be ground-breaking in view of what the prime minister said in his press conference at Kabul. It should be an Afghan-led solution, a home-based solution and no outside formula, he said while talking about the problems in Afghanistan. It appeared as though, for the first time, each side’s concerns were being addressed and a new chapter was being written in the history of relations between the two countries. Those who keep a close eye on development in the areas knew that the civil and military authorities were not on the same page, but what the prime minister said negated this impression.
4/29 Both countries have a long history of mutual distrust, suspecting interference by each other’s intelligence agencies in their internal affairs. The Afghans have been more vocal in expressing these reservations accusing the ISI of being responsible for the fast deteriorating situation in their country. This was evident in a meeting recently held in Islamabad between members of parliaments of the two countries. The emphasis of the Afghan side was on the need for close cooperation between intelligence agencies which they thought would lead to improvement of relations between the two governments. It is interesting to note that while people to people contacts have always remained excellent, relations between the two governments have not been free of acrimony.
4/29 Another factor contributing to this distrust has been Pakistan’s reservation over the increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan. During his visit to Islamabad, President Karzai tried to assuage this concern through a statement terming Pakistan and Afghanistan as conjoined twins, not separable from each other, whereas India was declared just a friend. The prime minister reciprocated in a befitting manner in his recent visit to Kabul and his utterances of an Afghan-led solution free of an outside formula must have sounded like music to Karzai’s ears. The timing of the visit was perfect for such a gesture, as relations between the ISI and the CIA have taken a new turn and are no longer as trouble-free as before, or as they should have been after the Raymond Davis episode, and also considering the cold shoulder given to the DG ISI in Washington.
4/29 Leon Panetta, director CIA, had told Gen Pasha that it was his fundamental responsibility to protect the American people, and he would not halt operations that supported that objective. I wish our rulers had felt similar emotions when deciding to fight somebody else’s war on our own soil. We still have time to demonstrate that resolve, and steer toward a path independent of foreign influence. The propping up of India by the US while dealing with the situation in Afghanistan and in countering influence of China and Russia in the region may have been another factor influencing Islamabad’s decision to revisit its policy – if it can be called so at this stage – towards Afghanistan. The policy that Pakistan has followed so far has neither enabled Islamabad to achieve its objectives nor has it benefited the country politically or economically in terms of its foreign relations. Pakistan instead witnessed political isolation and economic sanctions encouraging its financial dependence upon powers that it joined as a front line ally in the war on terror but who keep repeating the “do more” mantra without any understanding or regard for our constraints or interests.
4/29 Peace will not return to the area nor will prosperity visit the region without close cooperation between Kabul and Islamabad. Gwadar will not become a hub of economic activity unless Afghanistan is in peace. Only a peaceful Afghanistan can make our dream of having a reliable overland link with the Central Asian Republics come true. It would thus be appropriate only if the policy line, as indicated by the prime minister, is put into practice without further delay.
4/29 The tribal areas, as we all know, share many similarities with Afghanistan. In addition to historical, religious, ethnic and cultural links, the two have a unique relationship in the sense that a situation in one affects the other immediately. It will thus be prudent on the part of the government to reconsider its policy towards Fata, of which there are no signs, and to agree to the demands of the tribesmen of having a person amongst them as governor who should have a council of two elected/selected tribesmen from each tribal agency (to give representation to each tribe) to run the day to day affairs. It should also amend the FCR forthwith and initiate, at the same time, mega developmental projects in the area. The governor and his council must not be impeded in their function by the army or else that will be another exercise in futility.
4/29 If the government is serious about what our prime minister said in Kabul, and so far we have no reason to suspect otherwise, then it should take the first steps in Fata by decolonising it, giving its people the right to manage their own affairs. This will send positive signals to the people across the Durand line that Islamabad is serious this time about winning the hearts and minds of the people across the border. This in turn may also lead to permanent friendship between the two people, a desire of which the COAS made mention in his address at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels.
4/29 Once friendship is established and confidence built, it will pave the way for peaceful resolution of the problem on a permanent footing. Only then can Gwadar port be linked with the riches of the Central Asian Republics and turn the area into a trade centre of the world. Acting upon what the prime minister articulated in Kabul would be a win-win situation for all. Fata will have self-rule like other provinces in the country, Afghanistan will have peace, Pakistan will have strategic friendship instead of non-existent “strategic depth”, and the US with its other allies in Nato, will have reasons to begin the long awaited withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
4/29 PHILANTHROPY OR AGENDA? The controversy about the authenticity of projects undertaken by Greg Mortenson through his Central Asian Institute (CAI) in northern Afghanistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and the financial irregularities in CAI has created a furore in the international media. In the ensuing debate arguments of his votaries and detractors have focused only on Mortenson’s personality. Indeed, the controversy surrounding his philanthropic initiatives is a manifestation of global philanthropy and its discontents, which are a product of broader power relations and of the economic structure of the world dominated by a neo-liberal political and economic regime.
4/29 Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea is a New York Times bestseller. The author is accused of fabricating “some of the most dramatic and inspiring stories” in Three Cups of Tea and committing irregularities in the finances of the CAI. The impression he gives in the book is that he brought civilisation to the region of Gilgit-Baltistan to ward off the pernicious effects of Taliban ideology through education. Interestingly, the region, especially Baltistan, where he claimed to have set up schools, does not even have Taliban supporters, let alone the Taliban themselves.
4/29 Mortenson gives the impression that nobody had worked in this field before in the areas where he operated, and that he remained undeterred despite all odds and threats. That is why his representation of the region reeks of condescension. Amidst illiteracy and darkness the protagonist appears to be an emissary of civilisation who is bringing light to the dark spots of the earth. Philanthropic activities appear to be humanitarian, but there is a colonial mindset behind them. Mortenson reminds you of Western scholars who provided moral justification for their countries’ interventions in foreign countries during the colonial period.
4/29 There is no denying the fact that philanthropic interventions through soft initiatives can be used to defeat the scourge of terrorism, violence, ignorance and extremism. Unfortunately, the “soft” component of the counterterrorism strategy has become embedded within disaster capitalism. That is why initiatives of the soft component in development attract development professionals in droves to reap the benefits from reconstruction project in the aftermath of a war or disaster. No one can object to the opening of girls’ schools, but the question is: why it is always necessary to declare an area of intervention as being a land of obscurantism and ignorance, where the society is necessarily uncivilised? It is to provide a justification for the wiping out of all vestiges of the indigenous system and turning the society into a clean slate so that a neo-liberal economic script can be written with philanthropy used as an excuse.
4/29 In the case of Mortenson, the American Institute of Philanthropy reportedly stated that the CAI spent $1.7 million in “book-related expenses.” According to the Institute, this is more than the CAI spent on schools in Pakistan. He has succeeded in finding a niche as a bestselling writer and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize through his manoeuvring of the public-relations industry and the media. Most surprisingly, this non-scholarly book is required reading for American officers posted to Afghanistan and it is through it that they see and understand Afghanistan and Pakistan. The effects of such artificial philanthropy do not remain confined to economics. They also determine our perception of “the other.”
4/29 A real danger of the collusion of philanthropy with the neo-liberal agenda is that genuine philanthropic initiatives in future will be jeopardised when a bad precedent is set in a local setting. The events of Mortenson’s becoming a bestselling writer and his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of false claims of development is an example of the modus operandi of the neo-liberal discourse which presents philanthropy as a viable solution to problems. Angela M Eikenberry and Patricia Mooney Nickel in their research about philanthropy in the age of fast capitalism and global governance say that “in its subordination of benevolence to money, the current texts of philanthropy stabilise the very system that results in suffering.”
4/29
I READ THE LAST CHAPTER OF HOLES AND IT WAS TALKING BOUT HOW STANLEY AND ZERO EXSCAPED BY WORKING TOGETHER AND FINDING THE TREASURE. STANLEY NAME WAS ON THE TREASURE BOX IT HAD HIS LAST NAME ON IT WHICH IS YELNETS HIS FIRST NAME. THEY WENT HOME AND WAS RICH AND IT FINALLY RAINED AT CAMP GREEN LAKE.
4/29 AFTER TURKEY'S PLEBISCITE With Turkey passing through another critical period in its modern history, the incumbent government in Ankara has come to be viewed as the herald of greater democracy in the country, free from military interference. On September 12, 30 years after the military coup of Gen Kenan Evren, a referendum in Turkey approved a 26-point constitutional amendment package presented by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, with 58 per cent of participants voting in its favour.
4/29 The constitution had been altered many times, but the military's influence could never be eliminated. This is the largest set of amendments since the present constitution was adopted in 1982. The amendment package represents a long-overdue revamping of a military-imposed constitution and is intended to bring the constitutional framework in line with European standards of law and democracy.
4/29 The constitutional reforms designed to strengthen democracy include a number of articles boosting democracy, like those strengthening individual rights and civil liberties, supporting more reforms giving greater rights to Turkey's ethnic minorities, curtailing the role of the military in politics and bringing the standards of Turkish democracy closer to those of the member countries of the European Union, in which Turkey is seeking full membership. The deletion of Article 15 of the constitution strips the military of its existing immunity against prosecution in civilian courts. It opens the way for the trial of army generals who were directly responsible for the staging of the 1980 military coup.
4/29 Likewise, some of the amendments made relate to the expansion in the structure of the Constitutional Court and the High Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors. The membership of the Constitutional Court has been increased to 17, and the Turkish Grand Assembly will be able to elect three members to the court from amongst candidates proposed by independent bar associations. These changes will allow the government to reorient the judicial structure to bring it in accord with democratic standards. In the past, the obstructionist role of the Turkish judiciary has always prevented the country's transition to full democracy. At the same time, the recent amendments propose the establishment of ombuds-persons, ensuring affirmative action in favour of children, women and the handicapped, and also collective bargaining for workers.
4/29 Prime Minister Erdogan has dubbed the referendum "a key to open the door to a new constitution," which he is determined to push through in the months to come. The most important element in the change produced by the referendum is that the Turkish people have expressed a collective desire for the transformation of the country's political-legal system, and thereby furnished ultimate proof of their support for complete democratisation. Therefore, this referendum was in no small measure an expression of wide popular support for the government of Prime Minister Erdogan.
4/29 These changes are expected to raise the standards of democracy, political transparency and civil liberties in Turkey. EU officials and European political leaders have hailed the changes as a step which will bring Turkey closer to its goal of EU membership. The referendum will transform the dynamics of Turkish politics. The Turkish people will go to the ballot box in less than a year, with the next elections scheduled for July 2011. Since coming to power, the AK Party had been charged with undermining the foundations of secularism in the country. Some Turkish analysts believe that the vote will strengthen Mr Erdogan's increasingly assertive foreign policy. The Turkish leadership now has the opportunity to present itself as a major player in regional politics.
4/29 TURKISH STANDS The recent storming of the flotilla bound for Gaza has dragged the already crumbling relations between Israel and Turkey to an all-time low. If the anger and resentment prevailing in Ankara persist, Turkish-Israeli relations are bound to nosedive in the days to come. Turkey, a NATO member, has long been Israel's closest friend in the Muslim world, with bilateral trade worth $2.5 billion in 2009. But Israel's mindless jingoism and trigger-happy tendency have brought the two countries on the brink of a major diplomatic standoff.
4/29 Turkey has recalled its envoy from Israel and is also planning to halt military cooperation with the Zionist state. Turkey and Israel have a long history of secretive military cooperation that goes back to the 1950s. Turkish commentators used to refer to it as "the ghostly alliance". In 1996, the two countries signed an agreement allowing Israeli pilots to train in Turkish airspace. In return, Israel refurbished Turkish military aircraft and provided it with hi-tech equipment. Since Erdogan's rise to power in 2002, close military cooperation between Turkey and Israel has become more and more problematic. Last fall, Turkey summarily barred Israel from participating in a NATO air drill in Turkish airspace.
4/29 Recent press reports suggest that military deals worth $7.5 billion will be frozen. Military cooperation, including joint exercises and pilot training, will also be halted, and so will intelligence-sharing. Turkish officials have made it public that Israel will no longer be allowed to participate in international military exercises to be hosted in Turkey.
4/29 Turkey has blocked Israeli military flights from entering its airspace. Recently a plane carrying Israeli military officers to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland was barred from flying over Turkey. Turkey has also called home a youth soccer team from Israel. There is also deep erosion in Turkish public opinion which used to be the basis for Turkey's warm relations with Israel in the past. This fact can be surmised from the observation that Turkish public opinion in 2003 didn't let the Erdogan-led government permit American use of Turkish airspace en route to Iraq and turned out in huge numbers to protest the war in Gaza.
4/29 Turkish Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's new policy of "Zero Problems" towards neighbouring countries has also played its part. So in pursuance of that strategy Erdogan has held meetings with the president of Syria and hosted Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a conference in Istanbul.
4/29 Turkey's stance is that the future of Turkish-Israeli ties is contingent upon Israel's cooperation in four areas: issue an apology for the May 31 flotilla raid, pay reparations, allow an international investigation into the flotilla attack, and end the siege of Gaza. Israel needs to understand that superior firepower doesn't guarantee victory and its military might can no longer translate into political gains.
4/29 The role of the United States also needs to be reckoned with which has close relations with both Israel and Turkey. The US is now in the awkward position of devising a reaction that avoids alienating either side. It uses Turkish airspace for military exercises and also transports the majority of supplies for Iraq from a military base in southern Turkey.
The Obama administration should play a significant role at this critical juncture and stop Israel from continuing with its marauding activities in the Middle East. Ending the Gaza siege will enhance its moral standing in the world. Dumping Turkey would not be as easy as dispensing with the Goldstone findings. But one thing is for sure: the flotilla will continue to haunt mutual relations of Israel and Turkey in future.
I read this NBA Article and it was talking bout how Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose have to wear in boot because he sprained his ankle in one of the playoff games. The coach said its not a bad sprain its just a lil swole. I feel like if he not able to play they will lose again
4/26
I read another NBA Article but this time it was talking bout the NEW YORK KNICKS the article was talking bout how the knicks got swept by the celtics in the playoffs.The celtics is a good old veteran team and the knicks was unprepared for that kind of matchup. They accquired superstar forward carmelo anthony in a trade before the trade deadline to help there star already Amare Stoudmire. His teammate chauncey billups came long to to help but he was faced wit a knee injury to make him sit out 3 games in the playoffs but they or hoping to do better next season says the superstars.
4/26
In the next chapter of the NBA Article they were talkin bout how the Lakers Forward Derrick Character got arrested because of pubic drunkness and shoving a waiter. He was booked in jail sunday early sunday morning and got bonded out for 1000 dollars later on that morning he also tried to resist arrest. He havent played an any games of the playoff series against New Orleans and he is not expected to play the series is tied 2-2 and they play 2nite. The organization feels like he embarrased the organization but thats not the reason he not playing dough.
4/26
I was reading this book holes and in chapter 1 it was talkin about stanley yelnats and how is great grandfather was a pig stealer and had a curse on there family. They always had bad luck when they tried to do something. Stanley had got accused for stealing some shoes and he had to go to court and had a choice to go to jail or camp green lake. He chose camp green lake and when he got there he realized that it wasnt a camp he expected.
4/26
Another chapter i read of the book holes was talkin bout this lady name kissing kate barlow. At first she was a nice caring lady that was a teacher. It was this man that fixed on things and brought her peaches. She fell in love wit him and the whole town got jealous because he was black. So one day they were kissing and someone white guy seen them and he went and told everyone and they set the school on fire and killed her boyfriend. So she start killing everyone and town and robbing banks. So one day she decided to give up and she let a yellow spotted lizard bit her and hid the treasure where no one would find it.
4/26
As i read alone in the book when stanley went to camp he met some camp mates and the people that run the camp. The Warrant was a lady and there was this dude named Mr. Sir and this other dude name peter. They told stanley he would have to dig hole to build his character; but they were lookin for the hidden treasure that kate barlow had buried. Stanley met this guy named zero that was always quiet and dug his holes faster than anyone else.
4/26
It's been about one full week since Edge (also known as Adam Copeland) dropped the bombshell, announcing that he's retiring from professional wrestling. I wanted to watch Raw and SmackDown and let each one sink in a little bit before offering my thoughts on his career, retirement and legacy.
Edge, just 37 years old, officially wrestled his last match on April 3—WrestleMania 27—as World Heavyweight Champion.
4/26 Pakistan over new skirt rules
KARACHI: The vice-president of the Asian Badminton Confederation Syed Naqi Mohsin has hit out at the Badminton World Federation’s (BWF) regulation to make skirts mandatory for female players in international tournaments, saying that it is unacceptable to Muslim women.
4/27 US SHOULD BE A FRIEND OF RUSSIA
AS the Obama administration seeks a fresh start in our strained relationship with Russia, the case for cooperation with Moscow on everything from nuclear terrorism to global finance is clear and compelling. So, too, is the case for protecting the freedom and sovereignty of the fledgling democracies on Russia’s borders. We must do both.
Part of the way we can continue to support allies such as Georgia even as we do more to pursue vital national interests alongside Russia is by focusing on areas that can deliver real benefits to one side without hurting ties to the other.
4/28 TIGERS GOIN INTO EXTINCT
Next year, according to the Chinese calendar, is the Year of the Tiger but conservationists say the omens are inauspicious for an animal on the brink of extinction.
If anything, the tiger’s year in the Chinese zodiac may hasten its demise, conservationists fear, with festive demand for its skin and body parts encouraging poachers to hunt the few animals that still remain in the wild.
“The Year of the Tiger will put more pressure on wild tigers,” Michael Baltzer, head of the WWF Tiger Initiative, told AFP during a tiger conservation conference held in Kathmandu which wound up on Friday.
4/28 MOSCOW PLANS NAVEL BASE IN GEORGIA
MOSCOW, Jan 26: Russia will start building a naval base this year in Georgia’s Black Sea separatist region of Abkhazia, Russian media reported on Monday, a step Tbilisi said would violate its sovereignty.
Russia angered the United States and Europe after its war with Georgia last year by recognising Abkhazia, and the second separatist region of South Ossetia, as independent states and establishing a permanent military presence in both regions.
A naval base in Abkhazia is likely to add to western concerns that Moscow is flexing its military muscles, including by moving its armed forces back into areas they vacated after the collapse of Soviet rule.
4/28 WAR BY KIDNAP RAGES IN CAUCASUS
When Venera Tebilova kissed her son Alan goodbye on a warm evening last October, she expected to see him home the next day. Barely 16, Alan set off with two friends to attend a religious festival in a nearby village in their native South Ossetia. More than three months later, Alan and his friends are still missing.
For weeks his frantic mother searched for him in vain. Finally, a farmer in a nearby village revealed that he had seen a group of armed men, dressed in camouflage, force the three friends at gunpoint into a car that drove them across the border into neighbouring Georgia.
Alan’s case is not unique. Nearly five months since Georgia launched an attack on the breakaway republic of South Ossetia, and Russia retaliated by invading Georgia in a five-day war, tensions on both sides are still running high.
4/28 SHOTS FIRED AT POLISH, GEORGIAN PRESIDENTS
Gunfire broke out on Sunday on the South Ossetian de facto border after a convoy carrying the Georgian and Polish presidents approached, forcing them to turn back, officials said.
A spokeswoman for Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili said Russian troops manning a checkpoint on the boundary since a fiveday war in August opened fire when the convoy approached.
The spokeswoman was not present at the scene, just south of the town of Akhalgori. A witness travelling with Saakashvili told Reuters that uniformed men who appeared to be South Ossetians fired shots into the air when officials began getting out of their cars.
4/28 Needed: A food security lawThe reconstitution of the National Advisory Council under Sonia Gandhi, announced by India’s United Progressive Alliance government, is good news. The original NAC died prematurely because Gandhi quit it in the wake of the office-of-profit controversy. Members of parliament cannot ordinarily hold a remunerative office.
The law has now been amended to free the NAC of this constraint. The new NAC must advise the UPA on bringing about inclusive growth. The UPA had promised this before the 2004 elections and reiterated it in 2009. 4/28 Roach-inspired robots can turn on a dimeA bio-engineering marvel like the cockroach is inspiring researchers to build robots capable of sprinting over rough terrain.
“Humans can run, but our capabilities are nothing compared to what insects and some other animals can do,” said John Schmitt, professor at the Oregon State University (OSU) School of Mechanical Engineering, who led the project.
“Cockroaches are incredible. They can run fast, turn on a dime, move easily over rough terrain, and react to perturbations faster than a nerve impulse can travel,” Schmitt said.
If successful, Schmitt said, running robots could serve valuable roles in difficult jobs, such as military operations, law enforcement or space exploration. Within certain limitations, Schmitt said, cockroaches don’t even have to think about running — they just do it, with muscle action that is instinctive. 4/28 Madagascar's natural resource under siege
A political crisis in this African island nation has triggered a pillage of its mythical wildlife and forests, and conservation groups fear that the peril will worsen as donors suspend funding to punish coup leaders running the country.
Conservationists say the problem is particularly distressing in Madagascar because it is a land like no other. After it broke off mainland Africa 160 million years ago, Indian Ocean isolation created a biological laboratory that spawned thousands of plants and animals – massive moths, brawny baobabs, a hundred species of furry lemurs – that exist nowhere else.
Security in Madagascar has broken down since a coup in March, and traffickers have smuggled out record numbers of Ploughshare tortoises, one of the world’s rarest, for sale to Asian and European collectors, environmentalists said. 4/28 Chinese threat to Gir LionsThe International Union of Conservation of Nature has, on its red list, the Asiatic lion as an endangered species. The main threat to the Gir lion, it says, is from poachers who sell its bone as tiger bone which is used in Chinese remedies.
CID investigation of poaching of the eight lions in Saurashtra in 2007 revealed that lions were killed for selling bones and now an environment-related website has said that lions were next target as the number of tigers was falling. 4/28 Swine Flu claims 11 children in USAs the swine flu outbreak strikes the US early and hard, health officials note a worrisome number of child deaths and warn that supplies of vaccine will remain scarce for at least the next couple of weeks.
Delays in producing the vaccine mean 28 million to 30 million doses, at most, will be divided around the country by the end of the month, not the 40 million-plus states had been expecting. The new count from the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention means anxiously awaited flu-shot clinics in some parts of the US may have to be postponed.
It also delays efforts to blunt increasing infections. Overall, what CDC calls the 2009 H1N1 flu is causing widespread disease in 41 states, and about six per cent of all doctor visits are for flulike illness levels not normally seen until much later in the fall.
4/28 YOU MAY NEVER SEE THESE AGAIN
Last month’s rare sighting of the bearded vulture was a cause for celebration but the outlook may not be so bright for other endangered species. Sparrows and mynahs are becoming rare in our cities and the list could go on. Many Indians may not even know what they are at risk of losing.
Wildlife activist Belinda Wright says, “Any loss of biodiversity is sad, but it’s not always obvious. Sometimes, we don’t even know what we have lost.” Or are at risk of losing. Here’s a sample:
Tibetan Gazelle | 200
This antelope species, found in Ladakh and Sikkim and endemic to the Tibetan plateau, has seen sharply falling numbers for years. Once found in an area 20,000 sq km large, it now survives in a small 100-sq-km patch. Yash Veer Bhatnagar, a senior scientist with the Nature Conservation Foundation (NCF) in Mysore, says the Tibetan Gazelle is so seriously endangered in Ladakh, it could take as little as one severe winter to render it extinct.
4/28 SHOOTING FOR FUN?
Despite the fact that the Chinkara Deer is considered an endangered specie, both locally and internationally, its hunting by some local influentials continues. At least 20 of these deer were hunted recently at three different places along the Sanghar district desert zone, in close proximity to the India—Pakistan border.
Chinkara has been mentioned in the red list of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), while the Sindh Wildlife Department also realises that the animal is threatened locally. “It is declared a protected animal according to the Sindh Wildlife Act and its hunting and trapping is banned,” an official of the wildlife department told The News on condition of anonymity.
4/28 MISSING LINK? DINO WITH FOUR WINGS FOUND
Chinese researchers have unearthed the fossil of a birdlike dinosaur with four wings in northeastern China, which they suggest is a missing link in dinosaurs’ evolution into birds.
The team found the well-preserved fossil of the “Anchiornis huxleyi,” which roamed the earth some 160 million years ago, in China’s northeastern Liaoning province.
About the size of a chicken, the fossil has a total body length of less than 50cm and a skull 6cm long, lead researcher Xing Xu at the Chinese Academy of Science in Beijing said.
“This finding suggests that birds are likely to be descended from a kind of small-sized four-winged dinosaur about 160 million years ago,” Xu said. “Long feathers cover the arms and tail, but also the feet, suggesting that a four-winged stage may have existed in the transition to birds.”
The Chinese researchers believe the fossil is the oldest bird-like dinosaur reported so far, and older than Archaeopteryx, the earliest known bird. REUTERS
4/28 HORSES AND DOGS DON FANCY DRESS FOR CONTEST
On Dussehra day, while most of Mumbai garlanded its cars and bikes, the Amateur Riders’ Club at Mahalakshmi conducted an ashwa puja to worship the most ancient mode of transport, the horse. Festooned with fresh marigolds, with dabs of bright vermilion on their foreheads, the horses strutted around the racecourse paddock. They later returned in fancy wear for a contest.
Vying for top prize were human-horse pairs, dressed to match. While some participants adopted a festive theme, dressing themselves and their horses in garba outfits, others drew their inspiration from Bollywood themes.
Donning a blonde wig and a hip-hugging blue skirt, Pranay Mehta, a student of the Aditya Birla World Academy, came as Mango Dolly, the voluptuous female protagonist from the movie Quick Gun Murugan. His partner Lucrative, a white horse, was dressed as the movie’s protagonist, with Quick Gun’s trademark wide-brimmed hat and flamboyant outfit. “Since the horse was the man, I had to be the woman to make the couple work,’’ says Pranay, blowing kisses for the cameras.
4/28 GUJARAT COWS TAKE ON H1N1, HIV
It will now be cow versus swine. As the world grapples with H1N1, cows in Anand, the country’s milk capital, will provide the all-important ingredient to tackle the menace.
After giving the country utterly, butterly, delicious milk products for almost five decades, Amul is ready to take on deadly viruses as it joins hands with a Mumbai-based company to collect ‘first milk’ —which provides immunity to the newborn calf—to come out with an oral spray that increases the human’s immune system against viruses, including HIV and H1N1.
The milk is being collected from Amul’s milk co-operatives and the product, Receptor, will be marketed by the Gujarat Co-operative
Milk Marketing Federation (GCMMF) which owns the Amul brand. “The first milk from the mother’s breast, called colostrum, helps the offspring build its immune system. We first removed fat by nano filteration from the colostrum collected from cows. The isolated particles, called nano-peptides, were named ‘Radha-108’.
4/28 AL-QAEDA HAVE SHRINKING IN PAKISTAN
President Barack Obama, adhering to his plan to begin withdrawal of some American troops from Afghanistan this year, said on Tuesday night that al-Qaeda havens along the Pak-Afghan border were shrinking and fewer Afghans lived under the Taliban control, after year-long anti-militant operations.
The US leader, now into third year of his presidency — devoted mainly to recovery from economic recession at home in the midst of rising international competition and anti-terror cooperation efforts around the world — sounded an upbeat message for Americans in a prime-time annual State of the Union address.
The war in Afghanistan received the most attention as Obama touched on some key foreign policy challenges, which did not include the contentious and stalled Middle East peace process. “In Afghanistan, our troops have taken Taliban strongholds and trained Afghan Security Forces. Our purpose is clear — by preventing the Taliban from reestablishing a stranglehold over the Afghan people, we will deny al-Qaeda the safe-haven that served as a launching pad for 9/11,” Obama said.
4/28 OBAMA PASSAGE TO INDIANS
Barack Obama did not visit India and skipped Pakistan because he loves the Indians more or he had been on a mission to spread sweetness and light in South Asia. It was a business trip. And as Calvin Coolidge argued, the chief business of the American people is business.
Twenty business deals worth $14 billion that could create, as Obama emphasised for the benefit of audiences back home, nearly 54,000 jobs for the Americans. Not a small feat at a time when unemployment in the US is hovering around 10 per cent.
Obama was here to hard sell the US economic agenda pushing Indian firms and businesses that have been the chief beneficiaries of the outsourcing revolution, to invest back in the world's largest economy teetering on the brink for the past many years.
Global economic tide has indeed begun to turn. One never knew one would witness this amazing spectacle of the long colonised and historically exploited nations turning around to take the upper hand. Why, even 10 years back imagining a scenario where India would be in a position to help the US and other Western nations by investing back in their economies, infrastructure and jobs was impossible.
4/28 OBAMA FACES REALITY TEST ON N-POSTURE
President Barack Obama’s promise of a nuclear free world faces a crucial reality test next month when he decides how far to go in reducing the role of nuclear weapons in US strategy. The administration’s so called nuclear posture review is scheduled to be delivered to Congress in early March, two months behind schedule amid an internal debate over such fundamental questions as what purpose nuclear weapons really serve. The review, the first of its kind since 2002, has been conducted in secrecy and the outcome remains uncertain, but its point of departure was Obama’s April 5 speech in Prague promising to seek a world without nuclear weapons. To put an end to Cold War thinking, we will reduce the role of nuclear weapons in our national security strategy, and urge others to do the same, Obama pledged. But arms control advocates say they have been cautioned not to expect the groundbreaking document that many had hoped for.
4/28 OBAMA'S ME ADVENTURE
BARACK Obama had worse failures to address in his State of the Union message on Wednesday, but a few days before he owned up to the most foolish miscalculation that his administration had made in its first year in power. In an interview with Joe Klein of Time magazine, he confessed that he had not understood the obstacles to an Israeli Palestinian peace settlement.
The Middle East peace process has not moved forward.For all our efforts at early engagement, it is not where I want it to be,” Obama said. “If we had anticipated some of these political problems on both sides earlier, we might not have raised expectations as high.” But why didn’t he anticipate them? Is there really nobody in Washington who could have told Obama the truth about the Middle East?
4/28 OBAMA BUDGET PROJECTIONS MAY BE TO ROSY
US President Barack Obama’s budget plans unveiled on Monday assume a strong economic rebound despite high unemployment and trimming a record deficit to below one trillion dollars in two years.
Some see the White House’s federal budget forecasts as too rosy, especially the plan to slash the federal deficit to 706 billion dollars in four years, or 3.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), from the record 1.56 trillion dollars or 10.6 per cent of GDP projected in the 2010 fiscal year.
“If your staff economist tells you that is realistic, fire him,” said Peter Morici, a business professor with the University of Maryland.
“Rosie Scenario wrote this budget,” he said, tongue in cheek.
According to forecasts made under the 3.834 trillion dollar budget for the fiscal year ending September 30, the world’s largest economy should expand 2.7 per cent this year followed by 3.8 per cent in 2011 and more than four per cent in 2012 and 2013.
The budget estimated the economy contracted by 2.5 per cent in the 2009 calendar year despite growth in the last two quarters.
4/28 BOOK ON IRAN SOJOURN SHEDS LIGHT ON
With a book written by one of Osama bin Laden’s sons, and with news of a daughter sheltering in the Saudi Embassy in Iran, some of the blanks are being filled in. The book is about Osam’s large family, including lurid details of his parenting style.
Two weeks ago, the son, Omar bin Laden, revealed that many of the children who had been with their father in Afghanistan escaped to Iran following the 2001 US-led invasion, and were still together in a walled compound under Iranian guard.
Confirmation came with the news that a daughter, Eman bin Laden, had taken refuge in the Saudi Embassy in Tehran. Saudi officials are negotiating with the Iranians to allow Eman to return to Saudi Arabia, where she was born, and on Tuesday Omar bin Laden told The Associated Press that he, as well as his wife and mother, had applied for visas to go to Tehran and help speed Eman’s case.
4/29 NBA
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban says officials missed two crucial calls during Dallas' 18-point meltdown during the fourth quarter of a Game 4 loss to Portland.
Early entry candidates for 2011 NBA Draft
The National Basketball Association announced today that 89 players, including 69 players from U.S. colleges and 20 international players, have filed as early entry candidates for the 2011 NBA Draft.
Players wishing to enter the 2011 NBA Draft were required to submit a letter to the NBA to be received no later than Sunday, April 24.
4/29
The tribal areas of Pakistan will be the litmus test for what the prime minister said during his recent visit to Afghanistan. Although the winds of change have been blowing in Afghanistan for the last 40 years, there has been no change in the adjoining tribal areas of Pakistan. Let us be optimistic, even at the cost of deceiving ourselves - let’s believe that this time, the government is serious about bringing change in its policy towards Afghanistan which will have a direct bearing on Fata.
4/29
This visit being the second in four months is in itself an indicator of the importance that the government attaches to its relations with Afghanistan. Inclusion of the army chief and DG ISI in the prime minister’s delegation has demonstrated the fact that the civil and military establishment are now on the same page in terms of dealing with the situation in Afghanistan.
4/29
The visit could be ground-breaking in view of what the prime minister said in his press conference at Kabul. It should be an Afghan-led solution, a home-based solution and no outside formula, he said while talking about the problems in Afghanistan. It appeared as though, for the first time, each side’s concerns were being addressed and a new chapter was being written in the history of relations between the two countries. Those who keep a close eye on development in the areas knew that the civil and military authorities were not on the same page, but what the prime minister said negated this impression.
4/29
Both countries have a long history of mutual distrust, suspecting interference by each other’s intelligence agencies in their internal affairs. The Afghans have been more vocal in expressing these reservations accusing the ISI of being responsible for the fast deteriorating situation in their country. This was evident in a meeting recently held in Islamabad between members of parliaments of the two countries. The emphasis of the Afghan side was on the need for close cooperation between intelligence agencies which they thought would lead to improvement of relations between the two governments. It is interesting to note that while people to people contacts have always remained excellent, relations between the two governments have not been free of acrimony.
4/29
Another factor contributing to this distrust has been Pakistan’s reservation over the increasing Indian influence in Afghanistan. During his visit to Islamabad, President Karzai tried to assuage this concern through a statement terming Pakistan and Afghanistan as conjoined twins, not separable from each other, whereas India was declared just a friend.
The prime minister reciprocated in a befitting manner in his recent visit to Kabul and his utterances of an Afghan-led solution free of an outside formula must have sounded like music to Karzai’s ears. The timing of the visit was perfect for such a gesture, as relations between the ISI and the CIA have taken a new turn and are no longer as trouble-free as before, or as they should have been after the Raymond Davis episode, and also considering the cold shoulder given to the DG ISI in Washington.
4/29
Leon Panetta, director CIA, had told Gen Pasha that it was his fundamental responsibility to protect the American people, and he would not halt operations that supported that objective. I wish our rulers had felt similar emotions when deciding to fight somebody else’s war on our own soil. We still have time to demonstrate that resolve, and steer toward a path independent of foreign influence.
The propping up of India by the US while dealing with the situation in Afghanistan and in countering influence of China and Russia in the region may have been another factor influencing Islamabad’s decision to revisit its policy – if it can be called so at this stage – towards Afghanistan.
The policy that Pakistan has followed so far has neither enabled Islamabad to achieve its objectives nor has it benefited the country politically or economically in terms of its foreign relations. Pakistan instead witnessed political isolation and economic sanctions encouraging its financial dependence upon powers that it joined as a front line ally in the war on terror but who keep repeating the “do more” mantra without any understanding or regard for our constraints or interests.
4/29
Peace will not return to the area nor will prosperity visit the region without close cooperation between Kabul and Islamabad. Gwadar will not become a hub of economic activity unless Afghanistan is in peace. Only a peaceful Afghanistan can make our dream of having a reliable overland link with the Central Asian Republics come true. It would thus be appropriate only if the policy line, as indicated by the prime minister, is put into practice without further delay.
4/29
The tribal areas, as we all know, share many similarities with Afghanistan. In addition to historical, religious, ethnic and cultural links, the two have a unique relationship in the sense that a situation in one affects the other immediately. It will thus be prudent on the part of the government to reconsider its policy towards Fata, of which there are no signs, and to agree to the demands of the tribesmen of having a person amongst them as governor who should have a council of two elected/selected tribesmen from each tribal agency (to give representation to each tribe) to run the day to day affairs. It should also amend the FCR forthwith and initiate, at the same time, mega developmental projects in the area. The governor and his council must not be impeded in their function by the army or else that will be another exercise in futility.
4/29
If the government is serious about what our prime minister said in Kabul, and so far we have no reason to suspect otherwise, then it should take the first steps in Fata by decolonising it, giving its people the right to manage their own affairs. This will send positive signals to the people across the Durand line that Islamabad is serious this time about winning the hearts and minds of the people across the border. This in turn may also lead to permanent friendship between the two people, a desire of which the COAS made mention in his address at Nato’s headquarters in Brussels.
4/29
Once friendship is established and confidence built, it will pave the way for peaceful resolution of the problem on a permanent footing. Only then can Gwadar port be linked with the riches of the Central Asian Republics and turn the area into a trade centre of the world.
Acting upon what the prime minister articulated in Kabul would be a win-win situation for all. Fata will have self-rule like other provinces in the country, Afghanistan will have peace, Pakistan will have strategic friendship instead of non-existent “strategic depth”, and the US with its other allies in Nato, will have reasons to begin the long awaited withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan.
4/29 PHILANTHROPY OR AGENDA?
The controversy about the authenticity of projects undertaken by Greg Mortenson through his Central Asian Institute (CAI) in northern Afghanistan and Gilgit-Baltistan and the financial irregularities in CAI has created a furore in the international media. In the ensuing debate arguments of his votaries and detractors have focused only on Mortenson’s personality. Indeed, the controversy surrounding his philanthropic initiatives is a manifestation of global philanthropy and its discontents, which are a product of broader power relations and of the economic structure of the world dominated by a neo-liberal political and economic regime.
4/29
Mortenson’s book Three Cups of Tea is a New York Times bestseller. The author is accused of fabricating “some of the most dramatic and inspiring stories” in Three Cups of Tea and committing irregularities in the finances of the CAI. The impression he gives in the book is that he brought civilisation to the region of Gilgit-Baltistan to ward off the pernicious effects of Taliban ideology through education. Interestingly, the region, especially Baltistan, where he claimed to have set up schools, does not even have Taliban supporters, let alone the Taliban themselves.
4/29
Mortenson gives the impression that nobody had worked in this field before in the areas where he operated, and that he remained undeterred despite all odds and threats. That is why his representation of the region reeks of condescension. Amidst illiteracy and darkness the protagonist appears to be an emissary of civilisation who is bringing light to the dark spots of the earth. Philanthropic activities appear to be humanitarian, but there is a colonial mindset behind them. Mortenson reminds you of Western scholars who provided moral justification for their countries’ interventions in foreign countries during the colonial period.
4/29
There is no denying the fact that philanthropic interventions through soft initiatives can be used to defeat the scourge of terrorism, violence, ignorance and extremism. Unfortunately, the “soft” component of the counterterrorism strategy has become embedded within disaster capitalism. That is why initiatives of the soft component in development attract development professionals in droves to reap the benefits from reconstruction project in the aftermath of a war or disaster. No one can object to the opening of girls’ schools, but the question is: why it is always necessary to declare an area of intervention as being a land of obscurantism and ignorance, where the society is necessarily uncivilised? It is to provide a justification for the wiping out of all vestiges of the indigenous system and turning the society into a clean slate so that a neo-liberal economic script can be written with philanthropy used as an excuse.
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In the case of Mortenson, the American Institute of Philanthropy reportedly stated that the CAI spent $1.7 million in “book-related expenses.” According to the Institute, this is more than the CAI spent on schools in Pakistan. He has succeeded in finding a niche as a bestselling writer and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize through his manoeuvring of the public-relations industry and the media. Most surprisingly, this non-scholarly book is required reading for American officers posted to Afghanistan and it is through it that they see and understand Afghanistan and Pakistan. The effects of such artificial philanthropy do not remain confined to economics. They also determine our perception of “the other.”
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A real danger of the collusion of philanthropy with the neo-liberal agenda is that genuine philanthropic initiatives in future will be jeopardised when a bad precedent is set in a local setting. The events of Mortenson’s becoming a bestselling writer and his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize on the basis of false claims of development is an example of the modus operandi of the neo-liberal discourse which presents philanthropy as a viable solution to problems. Angela M Eikenberry and Patricia Mooney Nickel in their research about philanthropy in the age of fast capitalism and global governance say that “in its subordination of benevolence to money, the current texts of philanthropy stabilise the very system that results in suffering.”
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I READ THE LAST CHAPTER OF HOLES AND IT WAS TALKING BOUT HOW STANLEY AND ZERO EXSCAPED BY WORKING TOGETHER AND FINDING THE TREASURE. STANLEY NAME WAS ON THE TREASURE BOX IT HAD HIS LAST NAME ON IT WHICH IS YELNETS HIS FIRST NAME. THEY WENT HOME AND WAS RICH AND IT FINALLY RAINED AT CAMP GREEN LAKE.
4/29 AFTER TURKEY'S PLEBISCITE
With Turkey passing through another critical period in its modern history, the incumbent government in Ankara has come to be viewed as the herald of greater democracy in the country, free from military interference. On September 12, 30 years after the military coup of Gen Kenan Evren, a referendum in Turkey approved a 26-point constitutional amendment package presented by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's Justice and Development Party, or AK Party, with 58 per cent of participants voting in its favour.
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The constitution had been altered many times, but the military's influence could never be eliminated. This is the largest set of amendments since the present constitution was adopted in 1982. The amendment package represents a long-overdue revamping of a military-imposed constitution and is intended to bring the constitutional framework in line with European standards of law and democracy.
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The constitutional reforms designed to strengthen democracy include a number of articles boosting democracy, like those strengthening individual rights and civil liberties, supporting more reforms giving greater rights to Turkey's ethnic minorities, curtailing the role of the military in politics and bringing the standards of Turkish democracy closer to those of the member countries of the European Union, in which Turkey is seeking full membership. The deletion of Article 15 of the constitution strips the military of its existing immunity against prosecution in civilian courts. It opens the way for the trial of army generals who were directly responsible for the staging of the 1980 military coup.
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Likewise, some of the amendments made relate to the expansion in the structure of the Constitutional Court and the High Council of Judges and Public Prosecutors. The membership of the Constitutional Court has been increased to 17, and the Turkish Grand Assembly will be able to elect three members to the court from amongst candidates proposed by independent bar associations. These changes will allow the government to reorient the judicial structure to bring it in accord with democratic standards. In the past, the obstructionist role of the Turkish judiciary has always prevented the country's transition to full democracy. At the same time, the recent amendments propose the establishment of ombuds-persons, ensuring affirmative action in favour of children, women and the handicapped, and also collective bargaining for workers.
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Prime Minister Erdogan has dubbed the referendum "a key to open the door to a new constitution," which he is determined to push through in the months to come. The most important element in the change produced by the referendum is that the Turkish people have expressed a collective desire for the transformation of the country's political-legal system, and thereby furnished ultimate proof of their support for complete democratisation. Therefore, this referendum was in no small measure an expression of wide popular support for the government of Prime Minister Erdogan.
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These changes are expected to raise the standards of democracy, political transparency and civil liberties in Turkey. EU officials and European political leaders have hailed the changes as a step which will bring Turkey closer to its goal of EU membership. The referendum will transform the dynamics of Turkish politics. The Turkish people will go to the ballot box in less than a year, with the next elections scheduled for July 2011.
Since coming to power, the AK Party had been charged with undermining the foundations of secularism in the country. Some Turkish analysts believe that the vote will strengthen Mr Erdogan's increasingly assertive foreign policy. The Turkish leadership now has the opportunity to present itself as a major player in regional politics.
4/29 TURKISH STANDS
The recent storming of the flotilla bound for Gaza has dragged the already crumbling relations between Israel and Turkey to an all-time low. If the anger and resentment prevailing in Ankara persist, Turkish-Israeli relations are bound to nosedive in the days to come. Turkey, a NATO member, has long been Israel's closest friend in the Muslim world, with bilateral trade worth $2.5 billion in 2009. But Israel's mindless jingoism and trigger-happy tendency have brought the two countries on the brink of a major diplomatic standoff.
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Turkey has recalled its envoy from Israel and is also planning to halt military cooperation with the Zionist state. Turkey and Israel have a long history of secretive military cooperation that goes back to the 1950s. Turkish commentators used to refer to it as "the ghostly alliance". In 1996, the two countries signed an agreement allowing Israeli pilots to train in Turkish airspace. In return, Israel refurbished Turkish military aircraft and provided it with hi-tech equipment. Since Erdogan's rise to power in 2002, close military cooperation between Turkey and Israel has become more and more problematic. Last fall, Turkey summarily barred Israel from participating in a NATO air drill in Turkish airspace.
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Recent press reports suggest that military deals worth $7.5 billion will be frozen. Military cooperation, including joint exercises and pilot training, will also be halted, and so will intelligence-sharing. Turkish officials have made it public that Israel will no longer be allowed to participate in international military exercises to be hosted in Turkey.
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Turkey has blocked Israeli military flights from entering its airspace. Recently a plane carrying Israeli military officers to the Auschwitz death camp in Poland was barred from flying over Turkey. Turkey has also called home a youth soccer team from Israel. There is also deep erosion in Turkish public opinion which used to be the basis for Turkey's warm relations with Israel in the past. This fact can be surmised from the observation that Turkish public opinion in 2003 didn't let the Erdogan-led government permit American use of Turkish airspace en route to Iraq and turned out in huge numbers to protest the war in Gaza.
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Turkish Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon's new policy of "Zero Problems" towards neighbouring countries has also played its part. So in pursuance of that strategy Erdogan has held meetings with the president of Syria and hosted Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at a conference in Istanbul.
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Turkey's stance is that the future of Turkish-Israeli ties is contingent upon Israel's cooperation in four areas: issue an apology for the May 31 flotilla raid, pay reparations, allow an international investigation into the flotilla attack, and end the siege of Gaza. Israel needs to understand that superior firepower doesn't guarantee victory and its military might can no longer translate into political gains.
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The role of the United States also needs to be reckoned with which has close relations with both Israel and Turkey. The US is now in the awkward position of devising a reaction that avoids alienating either side. It uses Turkish airspace for military exercises and also transports the majority of supplies for Iraq from a military base in southern Turkey.
The Obama administration should play a significant role at this critical juncture and stop Israel from continuing with its marauding activities in the Middle East. Ending the Gaza siege will enhance its moral standing in the world. Dumping Turkey would not be as easy as dispensing with the Goldstone findings. But one thing is for sure: the flotilla will continue to haunt mutual relations of Israel and Turkey in future.